1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to conveyer systems for moving articles to desired positions, and more particularly to conveyer systems of a type which comprises generally a guide way and a carrier unit driven along the guide way for carrying an article.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, various conveyer systems of the above-mentioned type have been proposed and put into practical use particularly in the field of manufacture. One of them is of a type which, as is shown in Japanese Patent First Provisional Publication 48-73979 and Japanese Patent Second Provisional Publication 64-11534, comprises a guide way of tube, a magnet-mounted inner slider slidably disposed in the tubular guide way, a pressure source for feeding the tubular guide way with a pressurized air for moving the inner slider, a magnet-mounted outer slider slidably disposed on the outer side of the guide way and magnetically connected to the inner slider, and an article holder secured to the outer slider.
When the inner slider is moved in and along the guide way by the pressurized air fed into the guide way, the outer slider follows the inner slider while running on the guide way.
However, due to their inherent constructions, some of the conventional conveyer systems of the above-mentioned type have failed to exhibit a satisfied performance in case of conveying articles along a curved path. That is, in such a case, a curved tube is used as a part of the guide way. Usage of such a curved tube tends to bring about a certain difficulty in obtaining a smoothed movement of the inner slider in the curved section of the guide way. Furthermore, at such curved section of the guide way, the magnetic connection between the inner and outer sliders becomes poor due to an inevitable change in positional relationship therebetween. In fact, when, with the article holder (viz., outer slider) carrying a heavier article, the magnetic connection becomes poor, it tends to occur that the outer slider is disengaged or released from the inner slider.